Page 151 of Crown of Olympus
It wasn’t forgiveness or absolution. It wasn’t romance, or love, or any of the things I so desperately craved from her. But itwas permission — for a single night — and I’d be a fool not to take it.
I didn’t wait a Furies-damned second longer. I lunged for her like a drowning man gasping for air, inhaled her like she was my first breath, and kissed her like there might be no tomorrow. Because for all I knew, there wouldn’t be.
Perhaps this was the last night I’d ever get to drag her lips to mine.
Perhaps she’d never forgive me for binding us together so irrevocably.
But I’d make damn sure she knew I was hers regardless.
One hand wound through her soaked hair, the other cupped her cheek with reverence. This woman was made for me. I’d been a goner the moment I laid eyes on her, whether I knew it then or not.
No one else had ever measured up. No one else could compare to the raven-haired beauty who clung to my soul — literally and figuratively. It was her face I saw when I palmed myself in the dark; her ass in those fucking leathers I pictured when I chased my release.
I groaned. Suddenly, it was no longer enough to grind myself against her like an adolescent boy, seeking instant gratification at the cost of hers. No. I needed to chase her moans and hear her sighs. I needed to learn exactly what it took to make her explode. I needed it like I needed air.
For, Iwasa man starved.
My scarred hands darted down to her thighs as I hoisted her up. Her legs tightened around my waist instinctively, and heat coiled low in my belly at the feel of her pressed so intimately against me. My grip was hard and desperate; hers just as fierce. She kissed me back ferociously, like she was claiming me, and my desolate heart wished it were so.
I wanted nothing more in this life than this. This woman. This passion. This kiss.
I wanted to scream from the rooftops, shout into the void of oblivion — that I was hers, and she wasmine.
Mine to hold, to kiss, to love.
Mine to protect, to cherish, to worship — in any way my goddess demanded.
She shifted, her core grinding against the firm bulge in my pants, dragging moans from both of our lips. My cock twitched in response — Ineededto hear that delicious sound again.
Nyssa was the most potent of drugs, and I was an addict chasing ecstasy.
I dragged us away from the wall, and she gasped as we passed through the icy downpour. Gently, I set her down on the cold tiled bench seat — a clever design I was about to take full advantage of.
She whimpered when I pulled back, andFuries, did that do wonders for my masculine pride. Smirking, I dropped to my knees — a subject before his Queen; a god before his goddess; a man before his woman.
Never in my thirty-one years of existence had I knelt before anyone. And yet, here I was — at her feet. Knowing I would crawl over broken glass if she asked. I would kill for her, build for her, craft a Furies-damned moon for her.
And I would die before she doubted it.
Nyssa stilled as I reached for her, barely breathing as I grazed the sliver of exposed skin at her hip. Leather slid between my fingers as the first buckle of her cuirass came loose at the ribs. The second followed with a soft, metallic clink. Her breath stuttered.
I repeated the process on the other side and lifted the armour gently over her head. Underneath, she wore nothing but a gold-stained band wrapped around her torso, allowing me to see the deep heaves of her lungs as she watched me stare.
My eyes roamed over her pale, exposed skin. My cock achedpainfully at the sight. She moved to cover herself, a slimy feeling skittering down the bond, but I leaned in to halt her hands in their path.
“Don’t. Don’t hide from me,” I pleaded. “You are so painfully beautiful.” Grimacing, I gestured to my aching balls. Her perfect lips twitched.
My fingers drifted higher, hooking into the soaked waistband of her leather breeches. I paused, raising my brows in silent question. I wondered exactly how far her permission extended on this one night.
“Caelus,” she whispered. “I’ve never… I haven’t…”
“I know.” I smiled softly. My cock ached in its leathery confines, but I meant what I said — I wouldn’t take a single thing she didn’t offer.
“Let me,” I breathed. “Please, let me make you forget everything but this.”
She exhaled sharply, nodding once, then lifted her hips just enough for me to slide her sodden breeches down her perfect legs. I smirked, dropping them in a pile with her armour, and rocked back on my heels.
Fuck.
